Recognizing Your Board Members

Nonprofits often honor their volunteers and for good reason. There is good reason for this -- after all, they play an important role in the successes of an organization. Yet too often, the hard work of board members is left unrecognized.

The fact of the matter is that board members are volunteers as well and, as such, deserve to have their accomplishments honored. In his book “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Recruiting and Managing Volunteers,” John L. Lipp listed 10 unique ways you can recognize the hard work your board members do for your organization:

• Write a short feature story about individual board members in your eNewsletters.
• Provide board members with nametags they can wear to special events that indicate their role on the board.
• At board meetings, take the time to recognize individual members who have a birthday that month or are celebrating other personal milestones.
• At special events, take the time to publicly introduce any board members who are in attendance.
• Consider giving out an annual Outstanding Board Member award.
• Nominate outstanding board members for leadership awards.
• Start each board meeting by going around the room and acknowledging one special thing that each member has done that month to support your cause.
• Put framed pictures of your board members in the lobby of your organization or in the board room.
• Publish brief bios of your board members on the “About Us” page of your web site.
• Serve snacks at board meetings.